UK and Ireland tour

In October 2007 Zed Books was pleased to host renowned Egyptian author, Nawal el Saadawi, on a tour of the UK and Ireland to promote three reissues of her classics:

God Dies by the Nile
Woman at Point Zero
The Hidden Face of Eve

During the events on the tour, Nawal was ‘in conversation’ with a variety of distinguished people, and was heard by over 1400 people in many different venues.  In some cases events were oversubscribed as people took a rare chance to hear someone they had admired for years. An accomplished and empassioned speaker, she never failed to engage her audiences.

 

 

Nawal particularly enjoyed the question and answer sessions, usually asking her questioners to come up to the front so that she could see their faces. Many took the chance to shake her hand. After each event she willingly signed books and chatted to long, patient queues of people, some of whom came with well-thumbed early editions for her to sign.

During her tour Nawal was interviewed by the media, among others BBC World Service, Colourful Radio, Exiled Ink, the Irish Times, and Guardian Women (the latter to appear in November). She has been featured in Marie Claire online

Zed Books would like to thank the organisers and interviewers of each event on Nawal’s tour for their invitations and contributions to a very successful tour.

Above all, we would like to thank Nawal for her willingness to give her all to each audience on this demanding schedule. Her energy and passion for her subject knew no bounds. We hope she enjoyed meeting her UK and Ireland fans and friends and that the tour will have created new ones.

Sunday 14 Oct: Nawal el Saadawi at the The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Talk sponsored by Index on Censorship

In 1949, the world’s first Literature Festival was born in Cheltenham, and is now a major international event attended by tens of thousands of people over ten days.

On Sunday 13 October, a sell-out audience in a room in Cheltenham town hall listened to Nawal in conversation with Dr Margaretta Jolly of the University of Sussex. They touched on Nawal’s passion for writing and discussed her views on issues such as the veil. When asked by Margaretta about how young women in Egypt are taking up the cause against women’s oppression, Nawal read in Arabic and English from her daughter Mona Helmy’s political poetry. Both Mona and Nawal were questioned by the Prosecutor General in Cairo in early 2007 about their writing on the need for a mother’s name to be given honour and legality and so reduce the number of illegitimate children on the streets of Cairo.

‘This is the best talk I have ever listened to at the Cheltenham Festival. You have moved me.’ – Male questioner in the Q&A session.

Mon 15 Oct: An event hosted by Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, London

This was held as part of Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign and was part of the Sigrid Rausing lecture series.
At a heavily oversubscribed event, an interested audience listened to Nawal el Saadawi in conversation with writer and commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Always provocative, Nawal spoke of many types of ‘veiling’, likening make-up and plastic surgery to a ‘veil’. For Nawal the most significant veil is the ‘veil of the mind’.

‘ …the audience loved Nawal…we were really honoured to have her here.’ – Heather Harvey, SVAW Campaign Manager, Amnesty International UK

Tues 16 Oct: Arthur Miller Centre International Literary Festival,
Lecture Theatre 1 at the University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich.

Nawal el Saadawi’s talk was part of the 17th annual Arthur Miller Centre International Literary Festival which has brought major writers from around the UK and around the world to the University of East Anglia. These have included Toni Morrison, Seamus Heaney, Arthur Miller, Norman Mailer, Amy Tan, Jung Chang, Mario Vargas Llosa, Peter Carey, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Irena Ratushinskaya, et al.

Nawal was in conversation with Christopher Bigsby, Professor of American Studies, UEA, and Director of the Arthur Miller Centre, followed by book signing.

‘…the evening went very well with 350-400 people. Nawal was on form…and she was very good in describing her life and experiences, and approach to writing. I know that some found her inspirational and I myself greatly enjoyed the evening. At the end I put her together with some of our writers so that the whole experience was a good one.’ – Christopher Brigsby

Thurs 18 Oct: Leeds University Invitation of Leeds Centre of African Studies
University of Leeds Conference Auditorium

A large audience came to hear Nawal in conversation with Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre and Director, Leeds University Centre of African Studies. Many stayed afterwards to queue for signed copies of her books. One person went away delighted with her 20-year old original edition signed by Nawal.

‘The University of Leeds Centre for African Studies was delighted to host a public discussion with Nawal El Saadawi as part of her book promotion tour with Zed Books. A very wide range of students and staff from many disciplines attended the event and many of them have since come to the Centre to say how stimulating they found the event and how engaging, open and interesting they found Nawal on a whole range of subjects.’ – Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre and Director, Leeds University Centre for African Studies

Mon 22 Oct: Event at the Taliesin Theatre, University of Swansea

"Writing and Righting Wrongs": Nawal el Saadawi in conversation with Dr Marie-Luise Kohlke, Department of English Literature. The discussion covered topics ranging from censorship and ‘postmodern veiling’ to Nawal’s provocative views on contact sports such as rugby. A lively question and answer session was followed by a book-signing in Waterstone’s and an evening meal with creative writers and academics.

The conversation is available on the GENCAS website, plus some pictures and a brief summary of the event: http://www.swan.ac.uk/english/gender/index
Links for different computer speeds:
mms://mrcstr1.swan.ac.uk/english/nes.wmv (2Mb/s)
mms://mrcstr1.swan.ac.uk/english/nes_med.wmv (low bandwidth broadband)
mms://mrcstr1.swan.ac.uk/english/nes_audio.wma (audio only version, for dial-up modem access/very low bandwidth, 20Kb/s)

‘There was a welcome tang, in her passion and clarity, of the sixties, and I found the event inspiring. … And then there was the delightful meal in Mumbles, which I so enjoyed, with Nawal’s probing and sometimes mischievous questions to all of us, and her genuine enjoyment of the occasion, in spite of the tiring rigours of touring and the concomitant socialising. … one of the most stimulating and memorable days I have known at the university.’ – Nigel Jenkins, prize-winning poet and writer, Swansea University

Tues 23 Oct: Trinity College, Dublin
Invitation of Center for Gender and Women’s Studies, Trinity College, Dublin

Nawal el Saadawi was interviewed by Dr Maryann Valiulis (Director, Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies) whose research interests include the role of women in society and politics in 20th century Ireland and continental Europe, women's history and women's studies, and by Dr Melanie Otto (School of English) whose research interests include postcolonial literature and theory, and postcolonial women's writing.

While in Dublin Nawal was interviewed by the media, including Mary Fitzgerald, Foreign Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times – for a link see here

Wed 24 Oct: Edinburgh - Invitation by Word Power Independent Bookshop, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair – The Alternative Book Festival

Nawal el Saadawi opened the 11th Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair, followed by a discussion with Haifa Zangana, novelist and former prisoner of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime.

A packed hall enjoyed Nawal’s ironic criticism of world politics and the foreign policy of George Bush and Tony Blair in particular. They appreciated her humour – ‘Open Condoleeza Rice’s head and inside what do you find? You find George Bush’ or ‘What is this Middle East? Middle to whom? I call the US the Far West.’

Nawal returned home to a well-earned rest before embarking on her next round of travel and talks. She is hoping to find time soon to write the novel she is working on.

She is available for interview by phone or email. Please contact Zed
Zed Books Publicity
7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF
Rosemary Taylorson – Publicity Manager
020 7837 8466 or Mobile 07946 465 701
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www.zedbooks.co.uk